How to Report Fraud Under the False Claims Act: From What You Know to a Whistleblower Case

To decide how to report False Claims Act fraud, start with our whistleblower experts and a conversation about the government money and conduct you know. A bill for care that the patient never received, a false contract certification or evaded customs duties can connect an insider’s account to public money. A qui tam case lets a private person pursue that fraud in the government’s name. We connect your knowledge to the case and bring in False Claims Act whistleblower lawyers who understand your field.

The Government Money Behind the Fraud

A False Claims Act case connects the false claim or statement to government money. That connection can run through a healthcare provider, a contractor, a grant recipient or a lender whose loans carry government insurance. It can also concern money a business knowingly and improperly keeps when it owes the government payment. Customs fraud is one example: false declarations about imported goods can keep duties out of the government’s hands. That is a reverse false claim.

The payment mechanism tells us where to look. In health care, the service recorded, the quantity billed and the level of care determine reimbursement. In procurement, product qualifications, pricing disclosures and contract certifications determine what the government buys and pays. In research funding, the application and progress reports connect the scientific work to the grant.

Someone inside the business may understand exactly where that account changed. A billing employee knows how a service becomes a claim. A person who works with product testing understands what the qualification records mean. A researcher can explain the experiments behind a grant report. We trace those connections with you: what the government was told, what actually happened and who knew the difference.

Federal money can reach a business through another contractor or a grant recipient. We examine the funding relationship as well as the name on the payment. Where state or local money is involved, we work with state false claims whistleblower counsel to assess that part of the case too.

The Evidence an Insider Can Explain

Useful False Claims Act evidence connects the conduct, the claim and the decisions behind it. Your account of how the work happens can give a billing record, an email or a certification its meaning.

The factual picture includes the business involved, the time period, the people who saw the conduct and how you learned about it. We examine the records alongside that account. Which work did the company say it performed? What did the claim say? Who approved the statement, and what information reached them before approval?

An instruction can be as revealing as the final document. The whistleblower complaint against JPMorgan Chase alleged that an internal investigation led to a change in who signed lender certifications:

We see a pointed question in that allegation: why change the signer after an investigation? The person who knows what prompted the instruction can explain something the signature alone cannot. The same complaint alleged that government insurance claims arose from mortgages that should never have qualified for that insurance. The internal decision and the government payment belong in the same account.

You do not need to assemble a complete case to speak with us. We start with what you know and work with you to build the evidence behind it. Questions about records you already hold or can access belong in that conversation with us and your False Claims Act whistleblower counsel.

A Tip and a Qui Tam Case Are Different

Reporting suspected fraud to an agency gives the government information. A qui tam complaint starts a court case on the government’s behalf. They are different acts, even when they concern the same conduct.

An internal report to management or compliance is another part of the history. It can help explain what the business learned and how it responded. If you have already raised the issue internally or contacted an agency, we work through that history with you.

The private case gives the person with information a role in pursuing the government’s claim. In its 2009 report Qui Tam: The False Claims Act and Related Federal Statutes, the Congressional Research Service explained the historical reason for that arrangement: legislatures have used qui tam when enforcement would exceed officials’ unaided capacity or interest.

The Complaint and the Evidence Behind It

A case led by False Claims Act whistleblower counsel involves a court complaint and a separate written disclosure to the government.

Our work reaches beyond the account that fits in a complaint to the supporting records and what you know about them.

We work with you on the facts and strategy, and bring in False Claims Act whistleblower lawyers for the legal work. Your knowledge of the business remains central: how the claim was produced, how the statement affected payment and what the people responsible understood at the time.

Questions We Work Through With You

Prior reports, filing deadlines and questions about another case belong in the assessment with us and your whistleblower counsel. First to file, public disclosure and an existing government case are matters for that review. We work through them with you in the context of what you know.

The chronology helps that conversation. The time of the conduct, the information available to the people involved and any reports already made give the account a sequence. We build the case with you and find False Claims Act whistleblower counsel whose experience fits the payment system and alleged scheme.

If you are wondering about anonymity, retaliation or your own part in the conduct, those are reasons to speak with us too. We take those questions seriously and work through them with you and your whistleblower counsel.

Can I Continue If the Government Declines to Join?

Yes. The False Claims Act allows the whistleblower to continue the case when the government declines to take it over. We help you assess the government’s decision with your whistleblower counsel.

Duke University shows why that distinction matters. A former employee alleged that fabricated research supported federal grant applications and progress reports. The government did not take over the case. Duke agreed to pay $112.5 million to settle the allegations, the Justice Department announced in March 2019.

We see the absurdity in the allegation: invented research supporting real grant money. The insider kept going when the government stayed out.

The Whistleblower’s Share of the Recovery

A whistleblower case under the False Claims Act can pay 15% to 30% of what the government recovers. The reward comes from the proceeds of the case. It recognizes the whistleblower’s contribution to bringing the fraud forward and pursuing it.

In the Duke settlement, the Department of Justice announced a $33.75 million whistleblower award for the former employee who brought the case. The reward is part of the reason the reporting decision deserves a serious assessment of your evidence and your role.

The account of the scheme, the evidence behind it and the people who can explain it belong together. We work with you and False Claims Act whistleblower lawyers who know your payment system to build that case.

The Case Behind What You Know

If you know how a business obtained government money through false claims or kept duties it owed, speak to one of our Whistleblower Experts about the case behind it. We bring the strategy and False Claims Act whistleblower lawyers who know your field to build your strongest False Claims Act whistleblower case. We stay alongside you as the case develops and through the pursuit of your share of the recovery.